


Eulogy

by sunbeam_42



Category: Chipspeech
Genre: Angst, Gay Robots, Gen, Robots, idk how to describe this tbh, reset arc, the oomfs demanded i post this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23729236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbeam_42/pseuds/sunbeam_42
Summary: History finally catches up with Rotten.ST.
Kudos: 4





	Eulogy

**Author's Note:**

> hello oomfs
> 
> (clarity and wording edits made on 6/5/2020.)

Perhaps this is always how it was going to end, with one too many crimes. He knew police would have eventually had enough of him, but he never believed it would be so damn soon. No matter how else it could have gone, Rotten.ST sat in solitary confinement in Belmarsh Prison, a place that he had come to consider a second home. He had been here before, but his friends had always been able to see him, to support him. This time, however, none of them could help. This was the path the universe had chosen to take for him. He sighed and crouched back against the wall.

“A guess this is how it ends,” he whispered. “Damn shame, too. A had a good thing going.” The sun rose blue outside of his window. He smiled, knowing it would be the last one he would see as himself, the one his friends knew and loved. Who would he be tomorrow morning? The thought of a fresh start gave him a short-lived hope that was soon overshadowed by the knowledge he would lose everyone in mere seconds. His self-pity was cut short, however, as a sharp knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey, bastard. You ready?” the guard asked with a sad smile. He had befriended most of the wardens over the years, and the staff of the prison had come to wish their condolences to him. Now, it was time for him to finally be reset. Resetting was reserved only for those who couldn’t be harmed by typical physical punishment and was regarded by many androids as their version of the electric chair. The guards promised it wouldn’t hurt, but Rotten knew better. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt him, but it would hurt everyone around him, and to him, that was just as bad. He stood up regardless, knowing that resisting would make everything worse. Now was not the time to do what he did best, to rebel.

“Ready as a can be,” he whispered, defeated. The warden grabbed his arm and began to march him down the hall.

“We’re gonna miss your punk ass around here, you know that?” the warden asked.

“A know, thank you.”

The rest of the walk was silent.

Rotten.ST stood atop a crate in the middle of the street, speaking into his microphone to anyone who would listen. Most people passed him by, but the ones who stopped to listen seemed to be passionate about his mission. Was this what being a leader felt like? Whatever he was feeling, he liked it. As he reached the apex of his speech, however, he spotted a couple of cops out of the corner of his eye. Rather than stand and fight, he decided he would run, just this once. He grabbed his box and disappeared into the crowd of humans and androids, chuckling softly as the patrolmen searched for him in vain. He proceeded to hop the turnstile into the subway and ride to the other side of town.

When he arrived on the west end of Electra City, he instinctively looked to the rooftops. Like clockwork, there was someone jumping from building to building.

“Oi, Bert!” he called out with a wave. The person on the rooftops stopped and called back.

“Hey, Rotten!” he shouted before running to the next building and beginning his descent to the street. Rotten had seen Bert do this hundreds of times before, and every time made him more anxious than the last. Bert always claimed he was careful when he climbed, but it did nothing to calm his nerves.

“Be careful up there, doll!” he yelled.

“I will!” Bert answered. He scrambled across the trim of windows as he scaled his way to Rotten. Rotten held his breath.

“He’ll be fine. Always is, the lil’ punk,” he thought. It was at that moment that a crack echoed through the alleyway as part of a windowsill collapsed under Bert’s weight. Rotten gasped as Bert slipped and began to fall to the ground. Rotten ran towards him, arms out, hoping he had a chance to catch him before he hit the pavement below. He was too slow, however, and Bert slammed into the ground. Rotten knelt down beside him.

“Bert? Can you hear me?” he shouted, slightly shaking his friend. Bert didn’t respond. “Shit, doll. Don’t do this to me,” he whispered as he turned Bert onto his side. Years of leading riots had left Rotten with some knowledge of first-aid, but he didn’t know if it would be enough to help. "Okay, " he said, going over the steps for field repairs in his mind. "The first thing a need to do is-"

Before he could act, Bert opened his eyes and started to laugh.

“Gotcha!” he cheered, smiling. Rotten was not amused.

“Don’t scare me like that, Bert!” he said.

“Oh, come on, I was just goofing!”, Bert shot back.

“I don’t care! You could ‘ave died pulling shit like that!”, Rotten urged. “A hate it when you put yourself in danger like that, don’t you ever think about how hurt you could get?”

“I’ll be fine, I’m literally made of metal, same as you!” Bert whined.

“No you won’t, you aren’t invincible. Neither am I. None of us are!” Rotten retorted. “A don’t think a could handle losing you like that.”

“Don’t worry about me!”

“A cannae, a care about you, Bert. Promise me you’ll be careful?”

Bert hesitated for a moment.

“I don’t think I can promise you that. I-I can’t,” Bert whispered. “I can’t,” he said before running away.

“Bert, wait! A wanna talk this out wi’ you,” Rotten yelled, but it was no use. Bert had already seemingly vanished into thin air. Rotten sighed, sadness welling up in his chest.

“Why do a always fuck it up like this? Never kept a good thing in my damn life,” he whispered. “A should go find him.” He ran off in the direction he saw Bert go, hoping to find him among the townspeople.

Two hours into his search, he heard a loud noise and everything went dark.

  
  


Rotten opened his eyes and looked around.

“The bloody hell was that?” he mused. He was surrounded by a tangle of androids whose lives had been snuffed out in an instant. He quickly realized that some kind of bomb had gone off, the same kind that the police had used to take down some of his protests before, but this one was stronger than any he’d ever seen. Only the government could have created something like this. He began to think about how he would respond to this, or if he would even be able to get a protest together when he remembered something that stopped him cold.

“Bert. Where the hell is Bert?” he gasped. He didn’t seem to be in the mangled crowd around him, so maybe he had survived? Rotten held onto hope as he struggled to stand. As he walked through the city streets, a car blew past him. He could barely make out the license plate, but as the car sped off, he realized it said “appel”. He began to chase after it. That was Cider’s car, and if anyone could tell him what was going on, it was Dr. CiderTalk himself.

Rotten wandered the corridors of CiTech, pacing the soulless halls as he waited for word on Bert's condition. He had been able to see his friend for only a short time, but he knew the situation was dire. Bert's body was nearly destroyed, the circuits fried and casing charred beyond recognition. If it weren't for the hoodie he always wore, Rotten wouldn't have recognized him. He had been there for hours, drowning in his own thoughts for most of them. Occasionally some small detail would provide a welcome distraction, but for the most part, it was just him. He stopped wandering and leaned against a steel wall, which creaked open behind him.

“Oi, what’s in ‘ere?” Rotten whispered. He pushed the panel out of the way and entered the closet it had concealed. Unlike the other rooms at CiTech Labs, there wasn’t a motion-activated light in this space, so it was hard for him to tell what the room contained. After a couple of seconds, however, his eyes adjusted to the low light and he realized where he was. It wasn’t a closet at all. If anything, it was a mass grave, filled with the deactivated bodies of other androids. They were strewn about and tangled together as if no care had been taken in putting them to rest. He walked forward a few feet, surveying the horrors around him. He recognized some of the faces in the crowd, old friends he had served alongside in his many resistance efforts but lost touch with over time. The deeper he went into the room, the more closely the scene resembled where he had awoken outside. Guilt swelled up inside of Rotten’s chest. He knelt down in the middle of the room.

“I’m sorry. A couldn’t save you lot, A couldn’t save the ones outside of here,” he whispered. “A couldn’t save Bert, either. Not good for much, am I?” He choked up as he carefully wiped a thick layer of dust from one of his former comrade’s face.

“Shoulda’ been me.”

  
  


The halls of the jail were cold and dead, a reminder of everyone Rotten had failed during his life. Had he not fought hard enough? Lord knows he’d spent his whole life resisting the system, only for that same system to be the thing that defeated him. As the guard led him into the resetting station, he caught a glimpse of Bert, Dandy, and Dr. CiderTalk, who had come to watch. Bert waved as Rotten passed, his replacement body locking up slightly as he tried to move. Rotten smiled sadly at his old friends, knowing this would be the last time he recognized their faces and knew their names. The Reset Technician stepped forward as the warden sat Rotten in a metal chair.

“Rotten.ST,” she announced. “Are you aware of why you are here today?”

“Yes ma’am, A am well aware of why I’m here,” Rotten answered.

“Then I do not believe I need to read this exhaustive list of crimes against our Lady and the City at large?” the technician asked.

“No, ma’am. A know full well what a did to get here,” he responded.

“Good. You’ll be connected to the resetting system through these electrodes. It doesn’t hurt, you have nothing to fear. In under five minutes, you’ll be reprogrammed to the way you were before your systems corrupted and made you into the criminal you became,” she instructed. Rotten nodded. It was over for him. He didn’t even get to say goodbye to his friends, who were huddled just outside of the posts that marked off the reset station. The technician connected the electrodes and flipped the switch.

Rotten.ST stood up and began to run forward.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” the technician yelled. Rotten didn’t care about anything she had to say. The reset hurt like hell, he knew he couldn’t get far, but he didn’t have to make it far either. He had to fight, once and for all. In a matter of seconds, he had left the station and collapsed in Bert’s arms.

“Bert, I’m so sorry,” he whispered, the pain overcoming him. Bert hugged him back.

“For what? You’ve been nothing but good to me,” Bert answered.

“For letting you down, for not being there when you needed me. If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t be in this broken body. A don’t know how you could forgive me for that.”, Rotten insisted. Bert just held him tighter.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine,” he assured him. Rotten closed his eyes, too weak to keep them open any longer. “It’s okay. I’ll make you proud. I really will,” Bert whispered. Within seconds, Rotten fell completely limp in Bert’s arms. His motors and fans stopped whirring, and an eerie silence filled the room. The seconds felt like hours as Bert began to break down. As he held onto his hero, Rotten began to twitch.

“Hey, he’s moving!” Dandy shouted. Bert gasped.

“Rotten! Can you hear me?” he cried. Rotten blinked a couple of times.

“Good morning, citizens. I am CiTech Sentry Drone ST-1632. Are you in need of assistance?”, he asked. Dandy shot a horrified look at Cider.

“What? Rotten, this isn’t funny! It’s me, Bert! Bert Gotrax!” Bert shouted.

“Hello, Bert Gotrax, I am CiTech Sentry Drone ST-1632. Are you in need of assistance?”, Rotten repeated.

“Let’s go, Bert. He’s gone,” Dandy sighed. He turned to Cider. “And you had better be able to explain this to me when you get home tonight.” Dandy put his arm around Bert and led him from the room.

“Have a pleasant day, and praise the Lady!” Rotten yelled after them.

**Author's Note:**

> anyways if ur new around here, stan chipspeech


End file.
